DALLAS, TX, December 22, 1999 - Allegiance Telecom,
Inc. (Nasdaq: ALGX), a competitive local exchange
carrier (CLEC), applauded the Federal Communications
Commission today for its historic decision to grant
approval for Bell Atlantic-New York's application to
provide in-region long distance service in New York.
Bell Atlantic is the first Regional Bell Operating
Company (RBOC) to receive such approval.
"These decisions by the FCC and the New York Public
Service Commission (PSC) represent an historic milestone
in the development of a competitive telecommunications
market and set a good national standard for compliance
with the Telecommunications Act of 1996," said Royce J.
Holland, chairman and chief executive officer of
Allegiance Telecom. "This decision also provides further
evidence that the Telecom Act is working and further
highlights the ridiculous nature of the RBOCs' repeated
efforts to bypass the Act in the courts and in Congress.
The FCC's message today is clear -- quit whining and
open your monopoly markets to competition."
Allegiance has worked front and center with Bell
Atlantic-New York in order to help the RBOC bring itself
closer to compliance. Allegiance's work with the New
York-PSC, KPMG Peat Marwick and Bell Atlantic-New York
began in earnest in June 1998 and eventually led to the
establishment of the nation's first operational
electronic ordering interface for local service orders,
as well as new hot cut procedures, and, for the first
time, large scale teamwork between a CLEC and an RBOC.
"Allegiance employees not only identified key areas
of deficiency in Bell Atlantic-New York's performance,
but they took the important step of assisting Bell
Atlantic-New York in refining its processes and
procedures," said Robert McCausland, Allegiance's vice
president of regulatory and interconnection.
"Allegiance's work with Bell Atlantic-New York combined
with the unparalleled efforts of the NY-PSC and KPMG
Peat Marwick clearly enabled Bell Atlantic-New York to
see first hand its non-compliances and provided the
groundwork for the RBOC's eventual approval. Undeniably,
the NY-PSC has established an appropriate standard for
any RBOC to meet as it approaches compliance with the
Act. This standard puts to shame the frivolous
applications of RBOCs in Louisiana and Oklahoma."
Allegiance commended the FCC's use of key aspects of
Allegiance's anti-backsliding framework (February 2,
1999) that provides an extra level of ongoing
enforcement to ensure that Bell Atlantic-New York does
not regress in future performance.
"We are especially pleased that the FCC has
highlighted the need for strong post-271 enforcement and
anti-backsliding provisions," said Holland. "In fact,
Chairman Kennard specifically addressed the authority of
the FCC to suspend Bell Atlantic's ability to sign up
new long distance customers if they backslide."
Allegiance also applauded Bell Atlantic-New York's
recent move to establish a separate operating unit to
sell high-speed data connections including digital
subscriber line (DSL) technology in New York in order to
improve access to local loops for competitors like
Allegiance.
Based in Dallas, Texas, Allegiance Telecom is a
facilities-based competitive local exchange carrier that
offers businesses a complete package of
telecommunications services, including local, long
distance, international calling, high-speed data
transmission and Internet services. The Company is
targeting 24 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. with
its "one-stop shopping" approach. Allegiance is
currently operational in 19 markets, including Atlanta,
Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Fort Worth,
Houston, Long Island, Los Angeles, New York, Northern
New Jersey, Oakland, Orange County, Philadelphia, San
Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Washington D.C.
The Company's web address is: http://www.allegiancetele.com/.
Allegiance's common stock is traded on the Nasdaq
National Market under the symbol ALGX.
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